


Flight

by MurderBaby



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Chimera Ant Arc, I Did That, M/M, Wingfic, fun in quotes, it's mostly a canon au rewrite thing, just for fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 04:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10403919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurderBaby/pseuds/MurderBaby
Summary: Three pairs of wings. Three decisions. Three fights to the death.





	

Wings burst forth, growing longer and longer. Two of them, shattering bone and ripping flesh to shreds with their birth. 

Hundreds of feathers, white with black tips, and flecked with his blood, scattered through the air. 

The wings were long, and lean, just like their master. Gon watched the feathers fly everywhere, until he couldn't see anything beyond blizzard white and slashes of jagged red. One landed just so on his cheek, smearing Kite's fresh wound against his skin. 

In the next moment, the enemy attacked. Kite commanded his wings to their full width. 

"Run!"

Kite commanded the boys to run. His wings cannot protect them. They are sturdy, ready immediately to launch him up into the sky. He jumped as high as he could, drafts from his newborn wings nearly knocking Gon and Killua to their knees. 

The enemy had no wings, but did not need them to follow Kite into the air. 

Killua watched razor sharp claws flash like lightning. Gon smelled the hot stink of blood, buckets and buckets of blood. 

One arm dropped heavy to the ground, nothing more than muscle and bones and a burden. Kite's body followed, slamming against the mud. 

Every inch of Gon's skin ignited. Energy coursed out and around him with cyclonic force. 

Gon screamed. He screamed and screamed, and he heard Kite's anger. 

"Idiot!"

When Killua's two fists slammed down against the back of Gon's neck and head, he heard nothing more. 

"Good move, Killua. Get out of here!"

Killua didn't hesitate once. He leapt away. He didn't look back, not once, not until he carried Gon's limp body across the border. 

His back twitched painfully. Something grew inside of Killua's body, but he strained. Sweat from his long journey dried cool on his face. His muscles and bones ached with a desire to birth his new form. 

Killua resisted, with every ounce of power. 

He knew what he would grow would not be wings. 

When the Hunters discovered them, Gon still unconscious and Killua in agony, Morel forced Killua to turn away from him. He inspected Killua's back.

"This isn't a game, kid. You're weak. Too weak. That's why you're still just a human."

The Hunters companion halfheartedly chastised him. Killua showed no expression. He pulled his shirt back on. The shirt fit incorrectly, too tight around his chest and back. The pain took days to ebb away.

 

\----

Gon would die. 

The monster would murder Gon. 

Easily, and without hesitation. Clawed hands would crush Gon's bones into powder. Gon's brain would pulp out of every orifice as the giant limbs slammed him like an insect into the ground.

Nothing could stop Gon's death but Killua's body. 

The creature stood before him, salivating with lust and murder. 

Nothing stood between Killua's worthiness and unworthiness but Killua's heart. 

The creature crouched down, almost on all fours. 

If Killua died, Gon would die. 

If Killua ran, Gon would also die.

Killua knew how to run. Right now, it was all he knew how to do. It pulsed and pounded against the front of his skull.

He heard his brother's voice. 

"Run! Run away!"

Killua wanted to, more than he wanted to breath. And then he heard Kite's voice.

"Good move, Killua!"

The creature's skull collided with Killua's chest and stomach. All of the wind left Killua as his eyes slammed shut and he flew backwards into the unbreaking trunk of a tree. 

The monster screamed in raging pleasure. A cat playing with a mouse. Enjoying the game of murder. 

Killua curled into himself, indulging in pain for a moment, until he felt the twisting in his back. Two pinpricks of burning sensation. 

He remembered the warning he'd received. From others. From his own heart.

"You will leave Gon to die."

The twisting in his back continued. Boring out of his skin like two red hot pokers. 

It would be two black, leathery wings. His brother's wings. Slick, toxic wings, basted in years of death and poison. 

His eyes opened. He remembered one more voice. 

"Thank you, Killua! We'd be dead if it wasn't for you."

Kite survived, Gon insisted. He'd just grown those huge, powerful wings. He'd escape, even wounded as he must be. They both just needed to get stronger, and they would look for him. They would help him get back to normal, even if he couldn't fly anymore. 

"I hope Kite will forgive me for destroying his wing," Gon muttered. Killua pretended not to hear. Gon took a moment to consider his next action. He smiled at Killua. Gon didn't even have to ask, because Killua would follow him anywhere. 

Killua's heart beat out a warm tempo. Gon's smile. Gon faith in him. 

The enemy approached him. Its entire body quivered. Killua recognized that monstrous hunger. 

If he ran away now, Gon would die.

If he ran away, he'd let his first, real friend die. 

He'd be alive, but he'd have nothing worth living for. 

The pressure and heat in his back ripped a scream from Killua's throat as he stood again. It didn't matter what happened to him, as long as he could be useful to Gon. 

If he died. If he changed. Neither would matter to him, anymore, if the alternative was running. 

They tore through his muscles, and through his skin. His shirt ripped into tatters as he made the decision. 

"Gon is my best friend!" Killua howled. The monster sniffed, and stepped back, the momentum shoving them on their back foot. 

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" the monster asked, nothing in the voice now but shaky bravado and fresh, stinking terror. 

"I'm not going to lose him, not ever, not to you!" Killua screamed. The flesh of Killua's back ripped like wet leather. He strained, his mouth leaked blood. The networks of muscle, hollow bones and feathers struggled to unfurl. 

Killua reached behind, and felt for them. Two long, rounded pin heads curled the tips of his wings back into painful, wretched bundles. With fingers twisted into claws, he tore the pins out of his body. 

The monster yelled in fear, as two thick shadows darkened his collapsing form. 

A pair of wings, each twice Killua's height, flapped. They lifted the boys feet off the ground as he coughed, still gripping the two pins, one in each hand. 

Laughter, shrill and teetering on mirthless, filled the forest grove. The wings slowed, and slid back into two peaks of feathered mountains behind Killua's head.

"These are my brother's pins...see? He realized a long time ago what kind of wings I had, so he pinned em..." Killua said. He laughed, a private shame unrolling inside of him into a now very public joke. Killua ignored the sniveling coward at his feet as he curled the wings around himself. 

The wings were dappled brown and gray. Nothing like his brother's long, sleek bat wings, or his father's huge, silent owl wings. He gave two experimental flaps, the drafts of air tossing his bloody mess of a shirt aside, and bending the branches of the nearby trees so far back Killua could hear them cracking. 

The flow of Killua's energy smoothed and intensified at once. The monster shook with fear, and tried to crawl away. Killua shouted after it. 

"I have a message for the other Ants! If you come near us, ever again, I'll kill you!" 

The monster twisted, considered, and despite the tremors, stood defiantly.

"You're fucking dead!"

A blast of air knocked the creature back to the ground. A dark silhouette of angles blackened the moon. 

"Alright," Killua said. He dove towards the earth faster than sound, leaving the monster a pile of bones and ichor on the forest floor. 

 

\----

 

"They look like falcon wings," Gon repeated. He'd said something just like that about a dozen times in the past week. Killua tried to ignore the fawning, infatuated tone. He shook his head, and tried to focus on the boxes of candy he just bought for them both. 

"I guess, maybe, I don't actually know much about birds, Gon," Killua said. He poured a big handful of chocolate in his mouth. Gon leaned back, and distractedly took the box Killua offered him. 

"Or maybe more like one of those sea birds. The ones that go fishing by diving under the water, and then shooting back up." 

Killua groaned, and tried to think about how he could quickly change the subject. 

"Well, whatever they look like, they're actually a huge pain the ass! I can't get a good night's sleep anymore, and all of my clothes have to be altered so the wings can fit," Killua whined. Gon just laughed.

"Yeah, maybe, you definitely got yours young," Gon agreed. Killua nodded, and stood up. He tossed the now empty box in the trash.

"Should we get back to training, then?"

Gon nodded. He stood up. Killua started to walk, but turned back to see Gon still standing by the bench, lost in thought. 

"Hey! I'm not gonna wait for you forever, Gon," Killua said, tapping his toe and curling his wings tight against his back. 

"Hey, Killua?" Gon asked. Killua stepped closer. 

"What?"

"Can I touch them?" Gon asked. Killua's brain jolted. Heat flushed his cheeks. 

"Them?! My...wings?" Killua asked. 

Gon nodded. "Please?"

The square was not as busy as it soon would be, as folks wandered home from work and school, but it wasn't empty. His wings still drew a fair bit of attention, because they were so big, and he was still so young. Having Gon touch them in public made him imagine a giant target would be painted on his chest. He gulped, and tried to sound irritated, annoyed. Like he was just doing Gon a huge favor.

"Yeah....I guess so. If you're careful," Killua agreed. His throat caught on the word careful, almost like he'd just hiccuped. 

"Of course, Killua," Gon said. Gon set his mouth and jaw seriously. He lifted one hand, and pointed one finger. 

Gon's finger trailed along the tips of his wings. Along the softest parts of the feathers. Unconsciously, he spread his wings. Gon's face softened into a smile. 

"They're beautiful," Gon whispered. Killua felt feverish.

"Shut up, Gon, that's embarrassing."

"They're incredible, Killua," Gon continued. His hand gently slipped in amidst the grey brown feathers. It almost tickled, and Killua nearly jerked the wings back as Gon took a soft handful. The other hand smoothed the feathers down along the top of the wings. 

"You just seem different," Gon finished. He slowly pulled his hands back. Killua's wings hung open, a breeze causing him to shudder them with a twitch of his back and neck.

"Well, yeah, I got these big stupid assholes on my back, and I can't even figure out how to fly properly, yet."

Gon shook his head. "I don't mean your wings, Killua. I mean, you. Just, all of you. You're different."

"Yeah, right," Killua snorted. "I'm not different, you're just a weirdo. Like always!"

The boys started to walk together. Gon looked at Killua as they walked, and every time it raised a new, gut clenching question. Gon smiled at him, as they talked. 

Killua didn't want anything to be different. Even as their time continued to tick away, the day of reckoning approaching closer and closer every minute, Killua just wanted this. He just wanted to be with Gon. 

Flight could wait. Staying on Earth next to Gon was more than enough. 

 

\----

 

If he used his Nen to run as fast as he could, he could launch himself in the air, and catch an updraft. It wasn't quite flying, but it was as much as he could manage now. He didn't care how stupid he looked, bounding through the air with giant, gliding leaps before nearly slamming into the ground when his wings couldn't keep up. 

Palm pointed the direction out to him. It had been some contingency in the planning. Towards some distant estate, where they'd been storing Kite's body.

Kite's corpse.

Killua balled his hands until his knuckles turned purple-white. The truth would destroy Gon. Might already have destroyed him. There was no way for Killua to go fast enough.

A fortuitous cross wind, and the angle of the landscape, lifted Killua higher than he had ever flown. He kept his wings steady, not daring to risk a sudden fall. He wasn't sure what he needed to find until he found it. 

Concussive noise. Explosions on regular, heartbeat timed intervals. Bright, familiar bursts of aura. 

"No," Killua whispered. 

It was the darkest part of the night, but with every explosion, a mysterious shape could be seen over the treeline. It stood taller and narrower than the trees. Dark black with a red hue. Pointed and curved like claws. 

Another explosion, and Killua saw giant wings. The longest, darkest colored wings he'd ever seen. 

Something inside of him fell into place. His wings beat in a steady rhythm, and the wind spoke clearly to him of its intentions. He managed to ride over the trees, until he reached the devastation awaiting him.

"Gon?!" Killua called out. He knew the answer awaiting him would destroy his last tattered shreds of hope. He dove into the trees some meters away, landing easily on the balls of his feet. 

Recognition flooded Killua's mind, boiling and hissing like a turned over cooking pot. 

"Gon!" Killua shouted, and ran towards the figure. His wings smashed against the trees as he ran. 

The person standing front of him looked huge. Bigger than Razor. Bigger than Bisky at her largest. Hair and muscles that had never, ever stopped growing, except all at once. In the course of an hour, at the very most, Gon looked huge and fully grown.

And his wings had emerged. 

Splayed at his feet lay Kite's murderer's mangled, headless corpse. Rich, blue blood soaked the ground, the tree trunks, Gon's huge feet and legs. 

Over, and over. Gon stumbled to his feet. Awkwardly overwhelming in this new form. Two wings sprayed blood as they lifted into the air. Too long to spread through the forest growth. He stepped back wards, a few times. Gon said one quiet thing.

"Aim for the head."

Using his humongous wings as leverage, Gon pointed them ahead of himself, and then pulled them back, flinging himself forward like a human projectile. 

The collision sparked Gon's aura against the bleeding, energy infused being's limp body. 

Killua couldn't look away, even though every movement made him sick to his stomach to watch.

Gon's wings pointed towards the sky like twin blades. Sharp, black, and cold. A hue of red blood, and membranes like stretched skin, summoned images of demons. 

A single feather fluttered to the forest floor in front of Killua. He crouched to pick it up. 

The feather was white, downy and soft at the top. But towards the base, the root, it curled and twisted like it'd be held over a flame. Blackened into charcoal. 

"Killua?" Gon asked in his deep, empty voice. "I did it. Just like Kite would have wanted."

Killua choked back his angry, terrified words. Instead, he stepped into the faint light of the forest grove. 

"Gon, what did you do?" Killua asked. Gon turned his head to face him, his wings and body too bulky and awkward to easily maneuver. 

"Doesn't matter," was all Gon said in response. 

As Gon turned his back, Killua saw the headless monster twitch, and then curl up like a spring.

"Watch out!" 

Killua launched himself forward with the power of his legs and wings. He collided with Gon's torso, knocking the both of them aside as the still moving monster flew towards them, powered by nothing more than the malevolence stored from its past life. 

The monster's claws gripped one of Gon's wings, nearly tearing it from the connective joint on Gon's back as Killua shoved him out of the way. 

Bodies and wings tumbled to the ground. The creature rose up as if hung from puppet strings, deadly sharp claws ready to rush them a second time. Gon stood up. His impossibly long wing hung from his back, and could not move on its own as it dangled limply from its socket.

The monster flew towards them. Gon reached around. A horrid cracking and tearing sounds meant the wing had been completely freed from Gon's flesh. Killua saw how sharp it was as Gon held it with bleeding hands. 

Like a lance, Gon turned the wing in his hand, and ran towards the monster with the new weapon outstretched. It stabbed the create into the chest. Directly through the heart. Gon didn't stop until the heavy, wet thwack meant his wing had been driven deeply into the back of a giant tree, the headless, twitching corpse dangling from it, finally rendered harmless. 

"Your wing," Killua panted. Gon shook his head.

"I can't fly anyway," Gon said, before falling to the forest floor. 

Killua wiped the blood and tears from Gon's face. As he hefted the huge body of his friend, he felt life and mass flow away, like a puddle drying in the sun. Soon, his friend could be cradled in Killua's arms. 

Hair, and one long, worthless wing, dragged behind them both as Killua carried them both. Earthbound, flightless, and heavy.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't I have a bunch of WIPs I was supposed to finish? Yeah. 
> 
> Did I do this instead? Yeah.
> 
> Now that I've exercised this demon, I can get back to work. Maybe. Probably. Possibly??
> 
> I'm on tumblr too! [murderxbaby.tumblr.com](https://murderxbaby.tumblr.com/).


End file.
